Gibson Guitars at Fretboard Festival: 'Kalamazoo Gals' book addresses why women's work on instruments went unrecognized

KALAMAZOO, MI -- Author John Thomas was haunted by a photo of a group of women posing outside of the Gibson Guitar factory in Kalamazoo during the mid-1940s.

He pinned a photocopy of it to a cork board in his office. The photograph conflicted with past articles and historic documents from the company's production during World War II and women's role in crafting instruments for one of the marquee brands in the music industry. The company said no or very few instruments were made during World War II, but Thomas said he discovered the company made thousands of instruments during the period. Many were made by Kalamazoo women, a fact hidden by Gibson, Thomas said.

"It's really not much of an exaggeration to say they haunted me. I kept thinking, 'What if I can find one of them?'" Thomas said of the women in the photograph.

Thomas, a Connecticut-based law professor, freelance writer, guitarist and editor, tells their story in his new book, "Kalamazoo Gals: A Story of Extraordinary Women & Gibson's 'Banner' Guitars of WWII." The women made guitars with the golden banner reading, "Only a Gibson is Good Enough." The banner appeared from January 1942 until the end of the war in 1945. Thomas said about 9,000 "banner" guitars were made during this period.

Thomas, 58, started searching Kalamazoo in 2008 for some of the women who worked at Gibson during this period. He said he interviewed 12 women for the book. He also took video.

"For me, it's the story of a lifetime. I feel like I got really, really lucky. At some points, I felt like I wish I had discovered it earlier. But I discovered it in time to find these women. Of the 12, nine have since died, but at least I was able to preserve their story," he said during a phone interview from his home in Connecticut.

Thomas, 58, will be on-hand for the 8th annual Fretboard Festival, a two-day celebration of Kalamazoo's stringed-instrument legacy. He will hold a lecture from 3-4 p.m. Saturday at the Anna Whitten Hall of the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, 340 N. Rose St. The festival, which also includes live music, workshops and vendors, is free.

Orville H. Gibson was born in 1856 in the small town of Chateaugay, N.Y. His name first appears in Kalamazoo newspapers as early as 1873. By 1894, Gibson worked in his own shop, according to Kalamazoo Valley Museum curator Tom Dietz, who has given several presentations on Gibson's time in Kalamazoo. A group of businessmen bought Gibson's patents and started the Gibson Mandolin and Guitar company in 1902.

It would become one of the most recognizable names in music. The company moved from Kalamazoo to Nashville, Tenn., in 1984, but the old Parsons Street facility, where the photograph of the women was taken, still stands, including a large smokestack with the word "Gibson" on it.

In Thomas' reading for some of his music writing, he came across a
several references in articles and books about varying levels of Gibson
production during the war. He'd read Gibson said no instruments were
made during the war. He later read, in the book "Gibson's Fabulous
Flattops," the Kalamazoo-founded company only did repairs or completed
guitars started prior to the war. They were made by "seasoned craftsmen"
who were too old to serve.

Thomas decided to do more digging where he learned the company made thousands of instruments, many crafted by women. Gibson chose to keep the fact secret, he said.

"So I've got everything in life that I like: I've got a mystery. I've got music. I've got musical instruments. I've got a cultural issue. And I've got an issue of social justice. No one has ever told this story," Thomas said.

Thomas said Gibson went out of its way to hide their role in the company. He believes there were several reasons it concealed the women's involvement. Thomas said he examined Gibson's advertising at the time that touted production would cease until "the boys came home from the war."

"Implicit in that is the notion the public is not going accept women-made guitars," he said.

Another factor is patriotism.

"Gibson probably felt a little bit uneasy that in the time of a huge crisis, it's working on something as frivolous as a musical instrument," he said.

Thomas said the women he interviewed were "just happy to have a job." It occurred during a time when most of them would become home makers once the war ended.

"Their thoughts were dominated by international events, the war itself, the survival of their friends and family. They weren't thinking in the least about whether anyone would value their work. The certainly didn't have, as far as a I can tell, a notion of the historical significance of what they were doing at the time. They were just building guitars ... and getting a paycheck," he said.

Thomas released the book earlier this year. It is available through Amazon.com and will be at the 8th annual Fretboard Festival.

The author described the 288-page work -- a name referencing the Glenn Miller hit, "I've Got A In Kalamazoo," as a "thank you" to the women and their families for sharing their stories.